524 
PROFESSOR TIEDEMANN ON THE BRAIN OF THE NEGRO. 
divide with the poor, without any other motive than that of pure compassion for the 
indigent. In short, many of the Negroes possess a natural goodness of heart, warmth 
of affection, nobleness of character, and mildness of disposition ; and it cannot be 
denied that they excel many Europeans who are most violent against them. Adan- 
SON* * * § , PROYART-f-, WlNTERBOTTOM^, GOLBERY^, TROTTER, TuCKEY, DeMANET||, MuNGO 
Park, Lucas, Denham, and Clapperton, have mentioned many anecdotes truly ho- 
nourable to the moral character of the Negro ; and Clarkson, Falconbridge, Grand- 
ville, Nisbet^[, Pinkart, Ramsay , Sharp, Wilberforce, and other philanthropists, 
have collected and distributed them amongst the people ** * * §§ in England, in order to 
give them a favourable opinion of the poor oppressed Negroes. 
The intellectual faculties of the Negroes do not in general seem to be inferior to 
those of the European and other races. Such of them as are not bodily and morally de- 
graded by slavery and oppression, have a pleasing and open expression of countenance, 
and are of a gay and cheerful turn. They exhibit proofs of good natural capacity, 
good sense, wit, and penetration. The truth of this statement is most fully confirmed 
by the accounts given by credible travellers. BARBAT-j-'f' says, “ The blacks are, for 
the most part, men of sense and wit enough ; of a sharp ready apprehension, and an 
excellent memory, beyond what is easy to imagine ; for though they can neither read 
nor write, they are always regular in the greatest hurry of business and trade, and 
seldom in confusion.” 
But I will not lengthen this treatise with many extracts in proof of my opinion. I 
refer only to the works of two learned and respected men, my venerable friend Blu- 
menbach^, and Bishop Gregory §§, both defenders of the intellectual powers of the 
Negroes. They have mentioned many instances of Negroes who made a certain pro- 
gress in the liberal arts and sciences, and distinguished themselves as clergymen ||||, 
* Voyage en Senegal, pp. 31, 118. 
f Histoire de Cango, pp. 59, 73. Paris, 1776. 
} Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourood of Sierra Leone. London, 1789. 
§ Fragment d’un Voyage en Afrique, tom. ii. p. 391. Paris, 1802. 
|| Histoire de 1’ Afrique Fran^aise, tom. ii. p. 3. 
Capacity of Negroes for Religious and Moral Improvement. London, 1789. 
** An Abstract of the Evidence delivered before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the Years 
1790 and 1791, p. 91. London, 1801. 
ft Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea, in Chuechill’s Collection, vol. v. p. 235. 
++ Beytriige zur Naturgeschichte, Th. i. S. 73. Gottingen, 1806. 
§§ De la Litterature des Negres ; ou Recherches sur leurs Intellectuelles, leurs Qualites morales et leur Li- 
terature ; suivies des Notices sur la Vie et les Ouvrages des N&gres, qui se sont distingufe dans les Sciences 
les Lettres et les Arts. Paris, 1808. 8°. 
1111 The preacher Jac. Elisa Joh. Capitein, who studied at Leyden, and got his degree in the year 1742. 
Dissertatio Politico-theologica de Servitute Libertati Christiana: non contraria. 
The Wesleyan Methodist preacher Madock. 
